Bill Clinton talks veganism with Rachael Ray

Former president says that with his new diet, he's close to leaving all animal products behind.

While everyone was quick to declare Bill Clinton a vegan a couple weeks back, I was hesitant due to admissions by the former president that he still enjoys a bit of fish. He's close — but let's not say he's all the way there yet.

The 65-year-old feels the same way, and continues to impress me with how sensitive he is to people calling him a full-fledged vegan.

“I'm very careful," Clinton recently said during an appearance on "The Rachael Ray Show," "because strict vegans not only don't eat any meat or fish or dairy products, but they don't ever eat any processed breads and they're very careful what kind of oil goes into their food. So I, you know, I can't quite make that. My daughter, who was a vegetarian most of her life, beats up on me to eat more fish so I maybe have fish a little bit, once or twice a month, but I sort of lost the taste for all of it.”

Clinton went on to explain that he's cheated a couple times, but each experience made him that much more determined to stick to the green stuff.

“You know, last year at Thanksgiving — 'cause my daughter always brings all of her friends who, like, can't go home for Thanksgiving or come from other countries where they don't celebrate it — so Chelsea will [bring] 18 or 20 people home and tell Hillary and me what we have to do to help her cook dinner," he said. "So I had, literally, I had one bite of turkey and one bite of ham. A bite. And I didn't want it. And about once a year I have one bite of steak, and I don't want it anymore."

Clinton's experience seems to jive with what Mike Tyson said when he tried a bit of meat after being vegan for a few months. "I woke up violently sick,” he said in a 2010 interview. “It was vicious pain. I was throwing up. And I realized meat’s become a poison for me now.”

As for Clinton, he did admit to Ray that he misses omelets but still fulfills his protein cravings with a bit of fish." I do eat fish from time to time, a little fish," he added. "I'll eat uh, you know, a couple bites of fish or a little tuna fish if I get hungry.”

Check out the clip below of Clinton on "Rachael Ray" discussing how important instilling nutritional values in children is for overall life-long health.

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